Custom 82 Seca 550 project

Hello, Im David and this is my first post So I picked up this 1982 Seca 550 from a co worker for $350. He says its mostly there, I havent really looked much into it yet. He went through the wiring and re did it, and incuded a new battery and a couple new cables. The one big problem I see is that he decided to cut 2 rectangles out of the bottom of the tank to fix the rust, then decided it was too far gone to be saved. I may be able to do it, or I may be buying a nother tank At the moment Im keeping it in my truck because if my mom sees it she will flip out, so I will be dropping it at my dads shop after work tomorrow. Untill then here it lies in the back of my Ford Explorer, on its side (Dont cringe!) Also the only pics I have of it unfortunately





Stay tuned for more tomorrow once its out of the truck, Cheers all!

 

When I rode my first Bike (an 83 Seca) over to my Mothers house, she wouldn't answer the door! Finally she said through the door" My son wouldn't come over here on a motorcycle" 100 or so bikes later her son is STILL riding!

 

Dad - you can do it!

Mom - Stop that! You're going to hurt yourself

A different kind of love from each that both deserve respect

 

Definetly I respect both my parents, but I dont want my mom to see the bike till its done cause in its current state all she will see is a big money pit haha

 

You bet, and welcome to the best resource you will find out there for XJ motorcylces. Be sure to check out all the good write-ups on the XJ DIY How-to-Instructions - lots of good info there and plenty of really qualified members to answer questions about the XJ550. You must be young and strong to get it into the back of that truck. Good luck with it.

 

Thanks, I am young and some may say strong but I had the seller help me shove it in and my dad helped me get it out Well here it is, pretty much straight out of the truck I finger tightend the seat cowl on for fun




I hooked up the battery and checked for spark and I was very relieved to see a bright blue spark. But 2 of the sparkplug boot things are cracked and 2 of the plugs are broken but I was changing those anyways. Threw the tank on but it needs to be welded or replaced


This bike is a pretty good match for the streetbike my dad recently picked up (His first streetike as well) A 1980 Kawasaki 750 twin. Although his is a nice original and mine, well, isnt


Going through my parts I even found the original toolbag. Theres no tools in it, its torn and the zipper is broken, but I have it!


Although Im missing the thingy that holds the clutch cable


2 classics together


Now is it just me, or is the back tire Wayyyyyy too skinny?


Cheers all!

 

Skinny ? That's how we liked them in the 80's.

Looks like the same challenge that I have - only mine came in a set of convenient boxes and no tyres (or shocks or front mudgaurd I later discovered) so it would fit into a hatchback car. Somebody pinched your airbox by the way !

Good luck

James

 

Thanks! Yea I noticed the airbox too, nothing a set of pod filters wont solve

 

Well not much to report, but I did get it to fire Changed all 4 plugs and poured enough fuel down the fuel line to fill the float bowl and it ran for a good 20 seconds hahahaha. Sorted out some of the wiring, made it all neat. The tail light just comes on with the key, is it supposed to?

 

Yes

 

Ive got another question, how does the fuel level sender fit into the tank? The only ports my stock tank has is for the petcock, I think. I am missing the 2 bottom corners of the tank but the guy I got it from says there wasnt anything for the level sender. I do have another line on another tank though

 

The fuel level unit fits into an opening on the inside of the tunnel.

 

Hmmm Ill have to take a closer look next time...
Anyways I sorted out the remaining electrical that wasnt working, the turn signals an the headlight. The turn signals were just a dirty connection atthe flasher, the headlight turned out to be a bad relay, I figured that out with special electrical diagnostic tools



Gonna have to find one of those relays

 

The headlight should illuminate after the bike is started. The headlight relay is there for that reason, so if you did not start it then the headlight will not come on.

The relay has a diode inside of it that will latch the relay until power is removed, so if the bike started, and then stalled, the headlight would remain on.

Some of the relays are also marked with color, and if the harness is original, it will have a similar color to help identify the location. For example, the side stand relay has a blue dot, the harness will have blue wrapping to match.

 

Ah you are right, I dug out the boat gas tank and had it running for a few minutes however I looked at the tunnel of the tank and didnt see any opening for the level sender... It doesnt go in the bottom left or right corner of the tank does it? Those pieces have been cut out

 

The sender goes on the inside left in the tunnel area. Your tank isn't a 550 Seca tank. It looks similar though.

 

Hmmm, thats strange. I like the lines of the tank though, whatever its from. Ill have to dig into the sides to see if theres any evidence of a yamaha emblem

 

xj650 tank maybe?

 

I think you are right about the 650 tank.

 

Looks similar to 650 tank I have on my 550, the 650 tank is a straight bolt on fit, it gives an extra 4 litre gas capacity but the front of the seat has to be modified for it to fit

 

A set if pods will solve the lack of an airbox problem ", but it's going to introduce a whole different batch of problems.

 

Get rid of the bicycle handlebars though....

 

Interesting about the 650 Seca tank as a possible swap--- I'll have to see about that..... I have both, so I'll play around with that later this weekend.

Dave

 

Congrats on finding a 550 Seca though!!

 

Ok, I couldnt resist the oportunity to swap parts around on two bikes slready sitting side by side , so here is a side-by-side and swapping-tanks comparo:

650rj tank on a 550r

650rj tank is slightly shorter in length, by about 1/4 inch at rear oval mounting hole. However, if the tank is pulled back just that tiny bit it will bolt into place. Doing that though, pulls the front hooks about 1/4" back, which leaves a slightly "loose" fit at the front.

The petcock just clears the valve cover but with enough clearance to not be an issue.

The bottom rear of the tank does interfere with the seat pan's lower front corners but they could be trimmed back and re-shaped a bit to allow the seat token and close again.

The front of the seat is too long, too, but if it is cut back and re-shaped and re-curved I could be made to fit nicely.

All that would cosmetic changes, and readily do-able.
The only "major" issue will be that the bottom of the cramped edge of the tank touches the top ends of the airbox. Once the tank is bolted down there will be pressure in the airbox. If the airbox is heated and softened, the two "channels" could be formed. I guess the tank could be trimmed, but I think that may weaken the seams and I wouldn't recommend that.

550r tank on the 650rj

The 550r tank is about1/4" too long, PLUS the front mounting grommets are just a little bit too wide for the tank to slide on.

When the grommets were removed the tank almost fits right in place.

However, the lower front edges of the tank interfered with the horns. If those are lowered or relocated, that issue will be easily resolved.

The rear of the tank tunnel interferes with the frame but if the tank rear is raised about an inch or so, it clears the frame. If some makes a riser/spacer to mount the tank just that little bit higher its right in line above the regular rear mount

The issues to really address would be --what to do about the tank grommets on the 650r, and the rear mount. Hereare the solutions....

Two things must be done for the front:

1. The big ring on the mount needs to be moved in toward the backbone about 1/4" on each mount to allow the rubber grommets to fit in the slightly narrower tunnel of the tank.

2. Use the grommets from the 550r, as they are slightly less tall AND the have a little bit smaller diameter that the 650rj grommets.

For the rear of the tank--make spacer to mount the end of the tank about an inch or so higher above the original mount.

Long and short of it:

Either tank can fit on either bike with either seat mods and airbox mods to put a 650r tank on a 550r; or, minor alteration to the front tank mounts on the 650r, relocate the horns, and add a riser for the rear mount will allow the 550r tank to fit on the 650r.

Dave fox

 

Thats interesting, explains why it didnt come with a seat. what kind of problems would pods cause, other than going out of tune slightly?

I looked and looked for a tank, 550 or 650, and tge 3 wreckers in my province have none, and the guy on cl with one isnt responding. I started to weld up my tank which is a 650. Decent welding although there are 2 leaks, which is pretty good forvthe ammount I had to weld I think. Pics later

 

Pod issues have been addressed ad-nauseum here, so just do a search and you'll have plenty of discussions to digest.

 

Hang in there guy! I really applaud the fact that your working this all out on your own rather than going and buying some cookie cutter new bike!

 

Thanks! I love older bikes, Ive had a couple CT70s, a 79 XL125 honda, a 75 DT175 Yamaha, and currently have a 76 honda XL250 and the Seca

So, I searched but couldnt find anything specific on the pod filters, but basically losing the airbox boots creates turbulent air (Or loses turbulence) and the thing runs funny (correct me if Im wrong). Im no newb to carb tuning, so if it comes to that I can spend my time tuning. The thing is I dont have the air box and none of the wreckers around have even seen one of these bikes for over a decade so Im kinda stuck with aftermarket. Would using velocity stacks rather than pods be better for the tuning?
(Something along the lines of this? http://www.dimecitycycles.com/vinta...-lightweight-50mm-velocity-stack-12-6652.html )

 

Since nobody has been specific,
The airbox is designed to feed the motor smooth non turbulent air. It greates a certain amount of restriction to the total volume of air entering the engine.

Individual air cleaners will first off increase the volume of air thus changing the the AFR(air fuel ratio) therefore causing the motor to run lean. Also there maybe some issues due to air turbulence. This SHOULD just be a resetting process to get the AFR back in the correct range, although I don't really know how available jets and carb parts are. A pipe and individual pod air cleaners combined with resetting almost always nets more power. I personally would watch EBay for parts as you build, XJ parts seem to be readily available and affordable, just be patient and check it weekly.

 

Your bike has (Constant Velocity) carbs and they are difficult to adjust for Pods that add more air. The YICS ports on the XJ don't help with tuning Pods. Pods will work as long as you have the right jets, some have had success velocity stacking the pods as well. Look for a thread called "Pod Success Stories", you might find the right size jets for your bike by others that have gone through this.
This isn't a simple mod, requires a lot of patience and no access to firearms.
If you decide against the Pods, look around the site for someone selling parts or Ebay for the airbox or custom build one.

 

Custom build, you say? Thats possible I am more than happy with sitting there and playing with jetting for weeks on end But has anyone built anything? How should it go other than just restrict the air a bit?

 

Maybe someone on here will measure theirs for you. My son in laws airboots were old and stiff(started tearing), so we went to the local hardware store and bought some PVC couplings to attach to the box and give someting for the boots to attach to. And we used rubber plumbing couplings for airboots.

There's more than one way to skin a cat, but it won't taste like chicken.

 

Hi 82 Rat,

Welcome to the forum. We have 3 things in common - our first name is David , we are Canadian, and we own a Seca 550. I actually own two of them - one Ive had for 27 years, the other I picked up last week for parts. Some of those parts that I don't need could be made available to you are in need and are interested - and one of those parts includes an original paint, leak free, slightly dinged but intact gas tank. I also have a petcock, gas level sending unit, and that relay you need. Not sure how much shipping would be to BC, but let me know if you are interested. Also have a few other parts you may want or need.

 

I am interested, Ill send you a PM

 

Anyways Ive been experimenting with paint.... Im not to crazy about the white that someone painted it long ago, or the solid red thats underneath that. At first I thought a burnt copper would be cool...


But I didnt really like it that much


So I went to the first idea I had which was a dark metallic gray. I was walking around canadian tire and saw I colour I liked. Its "High performance wheel coating" but it sprays and covers like paint.


I think we may have a winner

 

I actually like the copper, what was the actual color, if you don't mind me asking?

 

The copper? Its a bbq paint I found at home depot, burnt copper or something like that

The original color looked to be a solid red

 

I wish i had a set of those Non swirly wheels

 

George, if you're talking about the 'double-spoke' ones on the bike being built, those are specific to the 550 seca. If you're talking about the straight spokes on the rim shown behind the 550, those are from an XS Special. XJ's primarily had the swirly rims, XS's primarily had the straight spokes. Some of the Seca models had other spokes: 900rk, Turbo, 55orj, 400rj, to name some. The 85-86 700 and 750 airhead and X models had rims that were like the virago cast spoke rims.

Dave

 

I like the XS wheels i guess.....are they interchangeable with my XJ550? are there XS's with chain drive i geuss i am asking (forgive my yamaha ignorance i always owned suzuki's before and i didn't exactly know the different models of that make either)

 

the smaller ones were chainies....larger ones are shafties. I don't know if the xs rims are direct swaps....I haven't played around with that yet. I would not be surprised if they are ........

 

..........."This isn't a simple mod, requires a lot of patience and NO ACCESS TO FIREARMS.".......I've been tempted to go all Elvis on previous projects before so point well taken lol

 

Oh I know, Ive spent alot of time with jets, Im rather patient

Its been awhile but a recent post on another forum inspired me to want to do some work on this thing. Ive found a set of slide style mikunis on craigslist Im gonna put on I think, easier than dealing with CVs. Saw a bike in the showcase section of the site, and I really liked the seat on it so Im gonna try to build one like it. Thats after I get this thing running of course, last time I checked the battery was completely flat

Stay tuned for (hopefully) more updates!

 

Ok, so the carbs I got are still CV type but I think I can make them work. They are from a 2001 ish Kawasaki ZX600. And they came with the airbox too so I just might be able to use them. The assembly was cheap enough I wont be out alot if they dont work

If not, I have a set of Mikuni TM33 pumper carbs on my little english car, that are the flat slide type, so if nothing else I can steal those for the bike and rejet them (Drilled the main to make them run a 2.0l) and maybe find an old weber for the car, or try out the mechanical fuel injection I have for it, but Im getting sidetracked...

 

I noticed those exhaust headers are looking pretty beat up! I have a set I bought thinking they would work on a project I was working on but before I could even install them I realized they weren't what I wanted. If you need a set of xj550 seca headers I can totally sell you the set I have, itd save me from having to post em on ebay. Shoot me a message if you're interested!

 

I might take you up on that but I can only imagine the shipping rate!

I tried to get it to fire last night. I got a couple coughs but no idle or anything. I did have it running but now that I think about it that would have been a year ago. Ill have to pull the carbs apart, maybe throw those zx6 carbs on there for a laugh